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'We’re hoping the Army will reverse its decision, recognize it didn’t use its own criteria and allow [the contract] to be rebid again,' McCaul said in an interview.
AP Photo

An industry official on the Oshkosh side suggested that the interest from Andrews and Conaway — who lead the House panel in charge of overhauling the Pentagon’s beleaguered acquisition system — was somehow amiss.

“It’s a bit out of the norm for an oversight and review panel to dip down into specific contracts,” the industry official said.

Not so, said Andrews, who admits that he learned of the ruckus from BAE officials in New Jersey but says he’s just trying to get to the bottom of their allegations.

“There’s nothing suspicious about it whatsoever,” Andrews said, adding that he wants to know from the Pentagon how — and why — it made the decision to move away from the company that originally held the contract, despite superior performance reviews.

“I want to know how they went about re-awarding the contract,” he said. “I’m not saying the decision was right or wrong.”

BAE, a European defense giant, has spent $2.5 million on lobbying so far this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Andrews himself has received $1,000 in donations from BAE during this 2010 election cycle and $7,000 in the 2008 cycle, according to the center. The company donated $11,000 to McCaul in the two cycles.

In contrast, Oshkosh has spent $180,000 on lobbying so far this year, according to the center.

The Army decided the contract on a “best-value basis” after a formal source selection board finished an “extensive” evaluation of the bids, according to Don Jarosz, a spokesman for the Army’s Tank Automotive and Armaments Command in Warren, Mich.

On Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell told reporters he was confident that Oshkosh could meet the contract’s requirements, saying he doesn’t listen to “whispers” that suggest otherwise. “I listen to on-the-record statements,” he said.

And Oshkosh, which also makes heavy tactical trucks for the Army, said it’s confident it will prevail, said spokesman John Daggett.

“Oshkosh won this contract because its proposal represents the best value to the Army, its soldiers and the nation’s taxpayers,” Daggett said, adding that the procurement procedure had been conducted in a “fair and highly professional manner.”

No word yet from the Wisconsin delegation, which is led in the House by the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Dave Obey.